Do I ever regret going to university and the debt it accrued? Despite having a profession in which a degree is nice but not mandatory…only a little. A good chunk of the Mills and younger Gen Xrs I work alongside can be pretty smug about all the money they saved by not going. Too bad the majority of them can’t write a complete sentence, can’t speak without “basically” falling out of their mouths every fifth word and are easily stumped at Geeks Who Drink, unless the topic is Firefly or Foursquare.
I know, I know, I’m guilty of generalizing. However, a university education needs to be reframed and retooled. America also needs to stop stigmatizing vocational schools. College isn’t for everyone and I don’t mean it in an elitist way; every person learns differently, has varying interests and in the end, we change, evolve into different people decade by decade. So a diploma may be in the cards at a later time, it shouldn’t be something restricted to people under 25.
I’ll let Adam make a better point here…
Regarding the debt part, it really sucked yet I was very fortunate. Marquette was much, much more affordable then; $3000/semester in 1986, $4000/semester when I left in 1990. Today it’s robbery at $22,485/semester which is grossly well over the inflation rate. According the (US) Bureau of Labor Statistics, it should be ~$7200/semester if only inflation were applied. Now it has tripled. Just what exactly are people paying for now? It cannot be the teaching staff as tenured educators and their assistants don’t make shit. If it weren’t for my grandparents chipping in to cover the lion’s share, I think I would still be indentured to Sallie Mae/Navient. I got off light with being only ~$14,000 in the hole. How frightened I was and with the Reagan-Bush Recession of 1991, I felt helpless. Ergo, I am in favor of granting debt forgiveness to all Americans who borrowed to attend university. The detractors from Reason and the American Enterprise Institute, both of which are economic terrorist organizations, can suck it.
To get through the despair, I did find a way to ease my concerns by learning to enjoy the little things I had mastered around April 1991. The weather was warmer which enabled me to enjoy my walk home from The Milwaukee Sentinel after midnight to my apartment (over 10 big city blocks). I’d put on hot chocolate, turn on my new stereo to listen to WUWM/BBC and start reading a book, really taking advantage of Milwaukee’s public library in the downtown area. They say nostalgia is a trap to avoid. I disagree, I continue to look fondly upon this brief period. Back then the future was scary, the present was shitty but I discovered a way to take comfort in the little joys even if I had little money. I think humans love the past because they often remember the outcome. Case in point. Why did the Greatest Generation go on and on over the Great Depression and WWII fondly? Easy. America won the conflict which then led to a burst of prosperity that lasted over a couple decades. The light at the end of a tunnel is awesome when you know it’s the sun and not an oncoming train.